Vandenberg Blaze Contained After Being Accidentally Set
Firefighters Saturday contained a 1,225-acre blaze accidentally set by an explosives disposal team that was destroying flares, authorities said.
No buildings were damaged by the fire, which was the second in about a month at the sprawling coastal base in Santa Barbara County.
One firefighter suffered an asthma attack Friday and was treated at a hospital; another had an allergic reaction to a bee sting, base officials said.
The fire was ignited about 10 a.m. Friday as a team was destroying about 40 pounds of unusable flares.
A spark from the flares escaped the safety area and landed in dry brush, Col. Bob Kehler said.
More than 120 firefighters, aided by three water-dropping helicopters, battled the flames in a largely uninhabited area two miles southwest of the base’s runway.
A two-day wildfire burning partially on the base scorched 1,600 acres until it was controlled Sept. 30.
About 125 firefighters in northern San Diego County battled a blaze that erupted Saturday in Fallbrook, according to Roxanne Provaznik, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry.
It started about 12:50 p.m., she said, and had burned 50 acres by late afternoon. No structures were threatened.
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